Wedding plans across Victoria and NSW have been upended after fire tore through two popular venues overnight, with one linked to Melbourne’s violent tobacco wars.
NSW Police are investigating a fire that destroyed Loxley on Bellbird Hill, a popular venue on Bells Line of Road at Kurrajong, in Sydney’s north-west.
Emergency services were called to the heritage-listed property about 7pm on Friday after a fire erupted in the main reception building. More than 80 firefighters worked to put out the blaze, but the main building was destroyed while nearby structures were also impacted. Fire and Rescue NSW said limited water 'aided the spread of the fire’. Two LPG gas cylinders also released gas due to over-pressure from the heat, complicating firefighters’ efforts to extinguish the flames. A 40-year-old man was rushed to hospital to be treated for minor burns after he desperately tried to put out the fire before crews arrived. NSW Police are not treating the fire as suspicious.
'I’m booked to do a wedding there next weekend. I am beyond devastated for the team and for the couples impacted,’ one person wrote on Facebook. Volunteers from the Rural Fire Service’s Plumpton Brigade used its bulk water tanker to help the firefighting efforts. 'Crews were confronted with the added danger of gas bottles venting under intense heat,’ the brigade wrote on Facebook.
It comes as another wedding venue in Melbourne’s north-west was destroyed by arsonists who used a stolen SUV to ram through the Keilor Park Ultima Function Centre before lighting the vehicle on fire about 5am on Friday. The venue was due to host a Lebanese concert on Saturday night that has connections to Melbourne’s tobacco turf war. The culprits fled the scene and are still on the run. Police say the blaze was deliberate. The scheduled concert has been cancelled due to the damage to the venue. Loxley on Bellbird Hill is described as 'brimming with history and surrounded by enchanting natural beauty’ on its website. Daily Mail has contacted Ultima Function Centre and Loxley on Bellbird Hill.
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